[copacabana]

Does anyone know of any good plans to build a solid but lightweight rowing/sailing dinghy? Ideally I'd like to build it out of something light like divinicel and fiberglass (sandwich). Something about 8ft should do the trick. The idea is to haul it up on deck when sailing so I'd like something light. Has anyone built one they could recommend? Has anyone tried building one using a foam/fiberglass sandwich technique? Thanks in advance!

 

[copacabana]

I thought a foam core would be lighter than ply, but thanks for the suggestion.

 

[copacabana]

Bljones, that D4 looks nice, but how did you build it with a finished weight of 50lbs? The finished weight in the plans is 75lbs.

SD I'll look into the ply option again. Tks. I still can't get my head around why it should be lighter than a foam sandwich. My boat's decks and hard dodger are divinicel sandwich to reduce weight so I just assumed the same would apply to the dinghy. Also, foam sheets seem to lend themselves to stitch and glue like plywood or even strip-planking, making the construction simple. Would glassing in some etxra foam ribs/stringers give it the stiffness and strength you feel is lacking in foam construction? I'd like to keep the weight down to no more than 50lbs, but it also has to be tough enough to be used as my main dinghy (after I happily torch the unruly and leaky inflatable one!)
Mirari, I'd love to make one in carbon fiber as well. Light and strong. A bit out of my skill set though....

 

[copacabana]

QuickMick, I live in Brazil and we don't have the same range of nautical products here. I can't find a hard dinghy here, off the shelf, that is well made and light. If I were in the US I'd just go out and buy one! What I wouldn't give for a Westmarine here!

 

[copacabana]

In the end I bought the plans for Danny Greene's "Chameleon" nesting dinghy. I couldn't find any plans for a dinghy as light as I had originally wanted (40lbs) without having to sacrifice durability. The Chameleon nesting dinghy should weigh in at 80lbs and since it can be assembled and dissembled in the water, one can easily manhandle the 40lb halves quite easily.